At the begining of this season I tired all the usual stuf to get my track clean enough to run. Scotchbrite pads, Bright Boy erasers, alcohal on a rag, you name it, it didn’t work. I a fit of frustration (or possibly stupidity), I took a belt sander to the rails. Years of crud and oxidation were gone in seconds. Two months later, all I have to do is riun my Trackman around once and I’m good to go. I could not belive how well that belt sander worked.
I found a drywall sander works great to and since its on a long pole and has good flexibility its wut we only use really
I’ve had…two or three powered track cleaners I picked up in boxes of junk over the years.
No idea what they do.
Pitch them out.
Funny, 15 years and I’ve never cleaned my track.
Why would one do such a thing?
To run trains…
I’m in a “it’s too much work for this house, wait until we move again” rut when it comes to developing my garden railroad further. That means when I want to run trains I have to first clear the track then maybe run some sort of cleaning mechanism over the worst spots.
4 1/2 lbs of locomotive is a pretty good cleaner in and of itself, though.
I bought the Aristcraft track cleaning car. It works but, I believe it also just drags/smears the black stuff all around the track.
I too use a drywall sander with a used pad. One to two (back and forth) swipes is all it takes and the rails are shiney as GOLD!!! very little effort too. Could have saved some money if I’d known this earlier.
dan
Ditto on the drywall sanding sponge, and a swiffer. No muss, no fuss, and a labor of love for us folks that like brass.
Thanks for sharing Dan.
Rich F.
I find a track cleaning car is effective for light stuff if run every day after belt sanding at the begining of the year. I have also used a Scotch-Brite pad duck taped to a drywall sander, which wors well for maderate to heavy dirt. The only problem with the belt sander is having to be carefull of plastic switch frogs.
I’d be careful with that belt sander you’ll end up with code “0” track. It seems that no matter how fine of a paper you use you will end up with scratches on the railheads that will trap more dirt. Altho most track cleaners are abrasive, I’ve found the LGB cleaning pad does a good job without leaving visible scratches. It seems to polish the rails & without much effort. Jerry
It never ceases tio amaze me that people always try to reinvent the wheel. The obvious tracl cleaner is the one that is designed for just that cleaning the track ie an LGB track cleaning locomotive. I have one and it works just great.
Rgds ian
Iandor,
You are right but one has to remember that not everyone wants to or can afford to spend $500.00 for a locomotive that is used maybe once a month. I for one use a drywall sanding pole with Scotchbrite Pads and a total cost of under $20.00. The remainder $480.00 can be used to buy more track, switches or rolling stock and the like. That’s just my 2 cents.
Happy Railroading,
Ron
Something that has always worked for me on indoor scales is acme pads.
I clean my track a lot more often than once a month, actually better than once a week, as i have problems to do with salt laden environment and residue from palms and ferns, all mixed with high humidity and high temperatures, give me a problem.Also i have osteo athritus in both knees and track cleaning is very hard for me; so it is a big problem well overcome.
As well my track cleaning locomotive is MTS controlled and has sound and i run it as a normal diesel locomotive as well. I am not rich by any means i am an old aged pensioner!
Rgds Ian
Hello Iandor,
Please be advised that I am not trying to highjack this thread.
I am very sorry to read about your medical problems and I am sure that the Track Cleaning Locomotive is a big help in your situation. I also live within 2 miles of the Atlantic Ocean Coastline in New England. Here in New England we have lots of FOG and SALT-AIR and of course the four seasons. As I stated before I don’t clean my track as often and my Drywall Sanding Pole does the job once a month for the cost of $20.00. As far as running the Track Cleaning Locomotive as a regular engine would be out of the question on my layout, it is the wrong type of equipment for the Early American Era.
Regards,
Ron
You’ve got lots of good ideas presented but I’m still going to throw in one more. I’m using brass track which does need regular cleaning if it’s not used (everyday!) If it’s only been a week or so I run a home-brew track cleaning consist behind an FA/FB loco pair that are interconnected electrically so that both locomotives get power from all wheelsets. The consist is detailed at: http://railway.skeenapacific.ca/MOWexplained.htm For places that the the consist can’t run through (stubs and sidings) I use a piece of 150grit drywall mesh mounted to a ‘Swiffer’ sweeper handle. I use a small bungee chord clipped through the mesh and across the top of the sweeper. It cleans well and doesn’t mark the track.
I usually try to keep it in the area of one week, but with band, that might change to once every two weeks, and when you through in hunting season, three weeks.
I didn’t understand what you said don’t forget this is an international forum and plain english is always the best way to communicate. No initials, no local idiom etc.
Rgds ian
I was refering that I usually clean my track once a week, but with band, and hunting season coming up, it will most likely be once every three weeks before I can clean my tracks.
This is an internet forum, and sometimes the best way to learn is to use the tools just a few keystrokes away. People are going to use idioms, this isn’t a matter of diplomacy but rather a matter of people discussing a hobby they enjoy.
Want to know what a word means? Try dictionary.com or Google (enter “define:” and your word. No space between the colon and word. Ex: “define:definition”)
Want to know about something with pop-culture meaning? Try Wikipedia. The English version is at http://en.wikipedia.org (Here’s another time saving tip: Most Wikipedia articles can be found by entering “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArticleName” with spaces being underscores. For example, the article on The Boy Who Cried Wolf is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_boy_who_cried_wolf .)